At the
end of September 2010, the album "This
Is The End, Beautiful Friend", by File Under Toner, was "made
unavailable" by the
Internet Archive due to "issues with the item's content" and was
replaced by the following screen:

The
Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library which offers permanent
storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites,
music, moving images, and books. Its stated mission is: "Universal access to
all knowledge".
Hazard Records is a netlabel hosted (among some 1500 other
labels) in the "Netlabels" section of the Internet Archive since
June 2004.
When we (Hazard Records) moved all our files into the Internet Archive we let them know
explicitly that some of our releases might deal with appropriation, since we
did not want to cause trouble to the Archive. The staff at the Internet Archive let us know that this was not a problem for them.

In august
2008, Hazard Records released the album "This Is The End, Beautiful Friend",
by
File Under Toner (a pseudonym Anki Toner uses for some projects) and
uploaded it to the Internet Archive (as had done with its 60 previous
releases). The record has thus been hosted at the Internet Archive during
two years, without problems. This album, and all other albums released by
Hazard Records, is in the
Public Domain.

"This
Is The End, Beautiful Friend" was made by recording run-out grooves (supposedly
silent) of thirty-six selected records and manipulating them both by
analogue and digital means (mainly by playing them on vari-speed turntables
and adding delay, echo and reverberation). The audible result is a series of
thirty-six short tracks of manipulated surface noise (mostly pops, cracks
and hiss).

The selection of source
material was made following three or four basic criteria, addressing
issues such as turntablism, clicks & cuts, silence, indeterminacy,
originality, authorship, appropriation, intellectual property, history of
sound reproduction technologies, record collecting, concept albums,
fetichism, gramophony...

The first of such criteria
was format. The records used were mostly vinyl, but also shellac, cardboard,
and even less usual formats, looking for a different "grain" in the original
sound.

Another
important factor was personal relationship with the record. Some of the
records used are among the author's favourite records, or maybe he has had
them since he was a child...

Finally, some of the
records were chosen for "political" reasons. This record poses a couple of
questions: "do the silent run-out grooves have copyrights?" and "in case they
have, who do they belong to?". For this reason, it uses records from artists
who have been involved in copyright infringement cases before. We have used
run-out grooves of records by Abba, Michael Jackson and James Brown, all of
them known for suing artists who had used fragment of their works out
of context. We have also used the run-out groove of one of the few
surviving copies of Negativland's "U2" record (almost all the copies of which -masters
included- were destroyed for copyright infringement).

Of course, none of this
would make much sense if the source of each silent run-out groove was
not clearly explained in the liner notes.

But these are strange
times, and explaining too much can be troublesome. According to the
US law (and we must remember here that the Internet Archives servers are on
US soil), Internet Service Providers are not liable of copyright infringement
if they do not have actual knowledge that they are hosting infringing
material, but they must act as soon as they are notified of a possible
infringement, or else they risk being prosecuted. This means that any person
claiming to be (or to act in the name of) a copyright owner can notify a
copyright infringement and possibly have a file removed from the
Internet, without need that a judge, court or jury sees the case.

The Internet Archive,
specially in sections such as Community Audio, runs the risk that some users
upload copyright infringing files (and, what is worse, for reasons quite far
from the Archive's stated mission). In fact, some users do. We understand
that they are forced to "make unavailable" a number of files. They probably
spend much more time and effort on that task that they would want to.

However, what is
discouraging in this case is that since the record was "made unavailable", no one at the Internet Archive has answered our
emails, posts in
forums or even this open letter:

Nevertheless, at Hazard
Records we believe that all this nonsense is a consequence of the pressure
that receives any institution that tries to enlarge the borders of free
culture, like the Internet Archive does. This battle is being tough,
since questioning copyright (even, not reclaiming one's possible copyright
and placing works in the Public Domain) represents attacking capitalism
itself.

That is why we have
decided to assume that this record has been "made unavailable" by mistake,
detected by some robot or caught in some sort of automatic copyright
infringement filter. We do not believe that the Internet Archive is
interested of getting rid of this or any similar work (while the opposite might be
true), though they probably have their hands tied in these situations.

So, we have un-censored
the record (made it available again) in October 2010. Just to (try to) keep
things calm, we have removed (part of) the liner notes and replaced them by
the open letter we wrote to the Internet Archive. The original liner notes can still
be found in a text file (hopefully invisible for automatic filters). We hope that this
is a good solution for this situation. However, it might be a good idea to
download the record quickly, just in case.

recording the silent final grooves of records. not so silent after all.
playing them loud enough to capture the hiss, the pops, the clicks. adding a
couple of digital delays, some EQ and filtering, a little reverb here and
there… not much, really. it’s all in the records if you know where to
listen.

of course it is difficult to listen to these grooves with automatic return
turntables (stupid consumer-oriented machines). maybe that’s why you never
paid attention.

you will probably have to raise the volume to play this album, which will
add a little electronic hum, different with every equipment on which you
play it. this is a (nice) feature, not a bug.

if you have the means, stamp these tracks on a three sided LP. you will have
three free extra end grooves, and a blank side to needle-surf.

one last thing. probably some people will think this is not legal, i should
not be allowed to do this, i am stealing somebody else’s copyrights (john
cage’s?), etc...

nevermind, most people will just think this is not music.

SIDE A

THE BEGINNING, ACTUALLY The Doors “The Doors” (Elektra, 33 rpm, side B,
500-71SB1). This is the end, beautiful friend, of The Doors first album. And
it is the beginning of mine, which is not the first, anyway (but is the last
so far –at the time of writing this-, of course). What a coincidence.

AND WHO GIVES A SHIT Negativland “U2 – 1991 A Cappella Mix” (SST, 45 rpm,
side A, SST272A). As you all know, this record does not exist. All copies
were destroyed after Island/Warner sued Negativland. Everyone who had
received a copy of the record -reviewers, record stores, radio stations,
etc.- was notified to return it. (If they failed to comply, they might be
subject to penalties which might include imprisonment and fines). Once
returned, the records were forwarded to Island for destruction. Nevertheless,
this track has been recorded from one of the remaining copies of the
original 1991 SST edition. Thanks, Vicenc and Esther!

SPEEDMETAL MACHINE MUSIC Lou Reed “Metal Machine Music” (RCA, played at 78
rpm, side A, CPL-2-1101-A-1). Not the non-silent locked groove at the end of
side four, of course, but the supposedly silent locked groove at the end of
side one.

LET ME DIE IN YOUR FOOTSTEPS Christian Marclay “Footsteps” (Rec Rec Music,
45 rpm, 26A-LC7981). Christian is one of the guys who taught us how to
listen to records. When I got this record, it was SO dirty I did not dare to
play it for a while, afraid it might damage my precious equipment. It
probably did, and probably that was what it needed.

SURF ACE NOISE The Beach Boys “Surf’s Up” (CBS,33 rpm, side B, S CRB 32085 /
CBS 31774B2). This is one of these records that is better every time you
listen to it. The final groove is better every time too.

MAGIC The Magic Record Album (Atlantic Records, 78 rpm, parallel grooves,
side A, 114-A) Double 10-inch record with parallel grooves. It plays a
different story each time, in total 256 different stories! You don’t need to
wait for the final groove to get some randomness, but you can still do. It
depends on what you are looking for.

HIGH FIDELITY Popular Science Monthly “Testing Vol. 2” (Urania, 33 rpm, side
A, UPS-2B). This 1957 LP is subtitled “True Sound Of Musical Tones” and is
supposed to “prove your system’s true high-fidelity”. By the way, the Urania
label made some of the best cover art ever.

PARTY v.a. “16 Tours Super Party vol. 2” (Ducretet Thompson, 16 rpm, side A,
620V003A). I always wondered what was the use of the “16 rpm” position in a
record player until Anton Ignorant gave me this record. If I remember well I
gave him a Spanish-Russian dictionnary in exchange.

ORGY Orquesta Salvador “Orgie” (Odeonette, 6 inch shellac disc, played at
115 rpm, side A, 30003a). Older records are usually referred to as “78s”,
but they were recorded at any speed between 70 and 100 rpm. For this Orgie I
chose 115rpm, which is as fast as I could spin.

SEX MACHINE James Brown “(Get Up I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine” (Polydor,
45 rpm, side A, 2001071A) We all know what the late great J.B. tought of
people who sampled him: he sued them. And probably there is someone who
still does. It is interesting to note that, since the complete Sex Machine
track spans over the two sides of this single, what I recorded (end of side
A) is actually in the middle of the song.

MOI NON PLUS Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg “Je t’aime… moi non plus” (Golden
12, 45 rpm, side A, G12/88A). A masterpiece too frequently mistaken for a
novelty record. Years ago we used the piano part in a song. Later I used
part of the lyrics in another. Why should’t I use the final silent groove
now? By the way, this is the german edition of the single.

FAHR FAR FUN Kraftwerk “Tour de France” (EMI, 45rpm, side A, 1C006
1652047A). The end of side A of the 45 rpm french edition of the single. But
this is the side with the german lyrics, as you probably guessed.

NAME THAT TUNE Name That Tune Game (Milton Bradley Co.,33 rpm, side A,
TV26965-1A). This game is a music bingo. One player is the “disk jockey” and
plays the record randomly. The other players receive a card each with song
names and have to guess the tunes. The first player to complete a row (five
tunes) on his card wins the game. I guess they never guess this one.

HOWLIN’ WOLF Serge Prokofiev “Pedro y el lobo” (Philips, 33 rpm, side B,
P13168 2L). This record belonged to my parents. I liked it when I was a kid,
but I find the drawing of the wolf so scary I could not even look at it.
Sometimes I am still scared if I hear the Peter And The Wolf tune
unexpectedly.

SARDANA Cobla Catalana. El Sartiró de la Cardina (Fonoscope sound postcard,
45 rpm, c43-M287). Cardboard record postcard sent by my mother to her
parents and sister on july 12, 1960. It promises “200 perfect auditions”.
This is the 199th.

HARMONICA The Harmonica Rascals “The Harmonica Rascals” (International Award
Series, 33 rpm, side B, AKS-177B). Harmonica is the only instrument I can
play, so I included a harmonica record. They also crackle.

VIOLINS Mendelsohn/Tchaikowsky “Concert(s) for Violin and Orchestra” (Club
Internacional del Disco, 16 rpm, side A, CID-301614-A-1) Another 16 rpm
record. I was missing some classical music in this collection.

FLY ME TO THE MOON Conquest Of Space (BriTone, 45 rpm, side A,
MK100EP/BM7453). This is a historical documentary record of the first manned
space-orbit flight by Major Yuri Gagarin, a 1961 british edition of the USSR
recording. The original sound recording has so many crackles, and the actual
record is so used (by my parents on a merciless 60s portable player) that I
could have recorded any part of the record with the same effect.

HELLO DOLLY Doll Record no-25 (Jesmar, 115 rpm, parallel grooves) This 2-inch
doll record was a present from Ajo. It is so small that I had to buid a
special adapter to be able to play it. And it should have played a little
faster (maybe around 120) but I could not spin that fast.

ROCK AROUND THE CLICK Bill Haley and the Comets “Rock Around The Clock” (Warner
Bros, 45 rpm, side A, WV5102/45.5102.A). I could simply not resist the pun.
Sorry.

AGAIN Criminal Element Orchestra “Put The Needle On The Record… Again!” (BCM
Records, 45 rpm, side B, DM-C0397B). It would rather be “don’t take the
needle out of the record” but it’s ok if you put it back.

TYPEWRITING La Garde Républiquaine de Paris. “La Nouba - Marche Afriquaine”
(Gramophone and Typewriter Ltd. And Sister Companies, 78 rpm, 30009X) This
one sided shellac disc is the oldest record in this collection (probably
dating from around 1905). In it, the French “Garde Républiquaine” band is
trying to play an african rhythm. They miss the spot, at least from a XXIst
century point of view, but they play a strangely relaxed repetitive rhythm
which turns out to be quite beautiful.

SI LOS CURAS Marcos Redondo con banda y coro. “Himno de Riego” (Odeon, 80+
rpm, side A, 184238A). El Himno de Riego has been the national anthem of
Spain during the Trienio Liberal and the First and Second Spanish Republics.
It was banned during the Franco regime and we used to sing it clandestinely.

HORSES “They’re At The Post” (Homestead Records, parallel grooves, 33rpm,
1011). This is a phonofinish” game record. Eight parallel grooves play a
horse race with the same start and eight different ends. You are supposed to
bet on the outcome. But my bet is that the record has just one end (er… I
mean one on each side; this is the end of side one)

TAKE ME TO THE MOVIES Red Raven Orchestra “The Little Red Engine” (Red Raven
Movie Records, 78 rpm, side B, M-2). Red Raven Movie Records are special
children's records with a 16-frame animation printed right onto the disc.
When played using a phenakistoscope placed atop the phonograph spindle, they
display a moving cartoon.

LOOK MA NO HANDS unknown artist (home recording on a self recordable
Recordio Disc, 78 rpm). You never know what you can find in these old
recordio discs, from a time when people recorded their own records at home (at
least, some people did).

(NOT) ONLY A BEATLE SONG The Hollywood Star Orchestra “Love Is All You Need”
(Prestodisc, 33 rpm, cardboard record). Nice australian cardboard record,
nice picture, nice song (not the Beatles’), nice final noisy groove.

GREYISH The Beatles “The Beatles (White Album)” (EMI/Odeon, 33 rpm, side A,
album 4.297.514, side 162-04173-A). Now it’s them! We are having white,
black and a lot of shades of grey records these days. By the way, when did
they stop numbering the white albums?

PINK REMEDY Trio Las Pulguitas “El buen remedio” (Discos Calesita, 78 rpm,
side B, CA24B). Argentinian label Calesita released a series of colored
kiddies records, and they are the most beatufil colored records I have ever
seen. This one is fleshy pink.

EGO Macroelvis Supermassa “XVIII El Sol” (G3G, 45 rpm). I figured I should
use one of my own records too. Maybe I can sue myself if I need to. By the
way, this is a limited numbered edition. I used the end of side B of number
61/497. Which makes a great difference.

BONUS TRACK Ekül B. “Musique Plastique” (Beta-Lactam Ring Records, lathe cut,
copy 32/50) We are not playing a silent groove but the real thing on this
one.